Why not?  

Having been fortunate enough to do a reasonable amount of travel, both domestically and internationally (see Travel Resume), we have long fantasized about taking a trip such as this:  extended travel, around the world, to places we had always dreamed about going but to which, in all likelihood, we would never be able to visit.  That is the way life often works.  All of us are constantly dreaming or talking about doing one thing or another, but unless one takes the time, and commits to making it happen, dreams often remain just that: dreams.  

We decided, after much anguish and deliberation, that our dream of traveling around the world would not be left unfulfilled for some later time that may, or may not, come.  The one thing both of us feared more than all the uncertainty and anxiety attendant to a trip such as ours was regret.  Neither of us wanted to face the prospect of looking back 5, 10, or 20 years from now and feeling in our stomach- churning pangs of regret over not having had the sense/courage/stupidity/recklessness (our trip has been described with many such adjectives; we will leave it to the reader to determine which is the most appropriate) to take the plunge.  

Other, more tangible, factors helped convince us that our trip was a moral imperative.  As we write this, each of us is a young and sprite 31 years of age.  But the clock continues to tick and, in terms of trying to start a family, we both wanted to get started in the next 2-3 years (knowing full well that the ability to have children is something that cannot be taken for granted).  Well, any fool, with or without children, knows that life changes irreversible once you add kids to the equation.  Clearly, if we were going to do a trip like this, the time to so do was before having kids.  

Further, for the first time in our lives, we also had the financial wherewithal to take a trip like this.  We each had worked for close to 7 years, allowing us sufficient time (barely) to pay off our considerable school loan and consumer debt, while at the same time saving  for both retirement and for an adventure such as this.  

But what really is allowing this trip to happen was the sale of our home.  Having bought it in April 1994, home prices in the City of Atlanta had escalated dramatically since that time, and our home benefited from this rising tide.  In addition, Congress was kind enough to change the tax law to provide that gains generated by the sale of a home were no longer taxable (previously, you had to buy a home of equal or greater value to avoid a tax bill).  Accordingly, the proceeds realized from the sale not only will pay for this trip in its entirety (without dipping into any of our savings), but will also provide the down-payment on the home we will be purchasing upon our return to Atlanta.  Frankly, we just got very lucky by buying at the right time in the right neighborhood.  It's as simple as that.  

All of the above having been said, our decision became rather clear: it was now or never.  All the stars had properly aligned and it was up to us to seize the opportunity.